The 33-year-old Dwayne Birchler is charged with manslaughter in the death of Lindsay A. Ulyate, 32, who was found dead in her home on Sunday, authorities said.
Prosecutors have charged Dwayne Birchler, 33, of West Orange, with manslaughter in the strangulation death of a 32-year-old Livingston woman, Lindsay Ulyate. (ECPO) LIVINGSTON -- A 33-year West Orange man has been charged in the strangling death of a 32-year-old Livingston woman he knew, who was found dead in her home on Sunday, authorities said.
Dwayne Birchler was arrested and charged with a single count of manslaughter on Tuesday, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced.
Birchler's arrest follows the discovery of Lindsay A. Ulyate's lifeless body at her home Sunday at 4:30 a.m., Murray stated. She was pronounced dead at 5:11 a.m.
Murray said an autopsy determined the cause of death as strangulation.
Birchler is being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark in lieu of $150,000 bail set by Superior Court Judge Norma J. Grimbergen, Murray stated.
Murray's office is conducting the ongoing investigating in conjunction with the Livingston Police Department.
A manslaughter charge implies the defendant caused the victims' death, typically through some sort of reckless act, and is a lesser charge than murder, which implies intent to kill.
Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, declined to characterize the relationship between Birchler and Ulyate. Carter also would not elaborate on the nature of the strangling, or comment on a motive or even whether prosecutors believed he intended to kill her.
"The victim and the defendant were known to each other," Carter said. "Unfortunately, I cannot tell you anything more."
A woman who answered the phone at Birchler's home Tuesday afternoon initially declined to comment, She then added, "This is a devastating shock," and hung up.
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